"Bloodshed Hammer" - real name unknown, translated from the Famitsu scans. Supposedly a str/blt weapon, starts as a mace and is powered up by stabbing yourself with it.

Holy Moonlight Sword - The iconic Moonlight Greatsword returns in its full glory for the DLC. Little information exists for this weapon outside one screenshot in the Famitsu article, and a brief mention about "wielding its mysterious power" in the Playstation blog patch details article.

"rocket hammer" - real name unknown, was used in the demo by an NPC hunter. It's basically a fire-infused, rocket powered hammer. Trick mode appears to boost the next attack with jet propulsion.

"burial saw" - real name unknown. It's the Burial Blade's blade, but folds in half like a Saw weapon instead of converting to a scythe.

"Beast Cleaver" - real name unknown (to me, unless you can read japanese), was usable in the demo. A large, machete-like heavy weapon with slow but powerful swings. Trick mode unzips the weapon like the Threaded Cane, allowing for preposterously long range attacks that have knockdown, but are slow. Requirements are 15 Strength and 15 Skill, has very high strength scaling but skill scaling appears to be minimal (E rating skill, may be acceptable with high base damage).

Saw Mill - Starts as a mace, trick mode uses the club as a hilt for a giant spinning motorized saw blade. Stat requirements are 16 strength and 12 skill. At +8, its scaling is A str, E skl, and B arc, with 167 base physical damage and +233 from a combined 24 strength and 20 skill. Mace form is pretty basic, saw form packs tons of decently fast multi-hit attacks with one that literally just keeps spinning until you let go of the button or run out of stamina.

Simon's Bowblade - was usable in the demo. Starts as a slightly wavy longsword, converts into a mainhand bow in trick mode. Stat requirements are 8 Strength, 15 Skill, and 9 Arcane. When a bow, fires arrows that cost quicksilver bullets. Charged heavy arrow attacks are able to put enemies into a backstabbable state from long range. At +8, the weapon had 131 base physical damage with E Strength scaling and B Skill scaling, and 90 base arcane damage with C Arcane scaling. With 20 Strength, 25 Skill, and 13 Arcane, it got +161 physical AR and +7 arcane AR.

"war pick" - real name unknown. A weapon that appears to start out as a spear-like stabbing weapon, and converts to a two handed warpick-like weapon in trick mode.

"(unknown sword)" - real name unknown. Real anything unknown, really. Can be seen on the poster art for the expansion. Looks similar to a Reiterpallash in a Chikage sheath.

Left hand

"gatling gun" - a new firearm revealed in the Famitsu article scans. It's a "portable" gatling gun held in the left hand.

"new gun" - real name unknown. A left-hand rifle that fires like a real rifle instead of a shotgun. Was used by an NPC summon in the demo.

"mirror shield" - real name unknown. A shield for the left hand, said in interviews to be excellent at blocking arcane damage. No, it's not connected to the sword shown in the trailer, that sword is Simon's Bowblade in untricked mode.

"Galasha's Fist" - translation of name from Japanese. Needs 7 Strength and 9 Skill to wield, at +8 has 116 base physical AR with A Strength scaling giving it +36 off 20 Strength. It supposedly allows for melee-range parrying without spending bullets.

New items confirmed so far:

Blacksky Eye - Was usable in the demo by the "Mensis Scholar" build, but I couldn't find any footage of it actually being used. Fires a single, small arcane projectile at the targeted enemy. Quicksilver bullet cost unknown.

"sticky grenade(?)" - A device you drop behind you, which then explodes after a short time. Seems to have high arcane scaling.

New mechanics confirmed so far:

"beast mode" - seen in trailer at 1:12 to 1:15. Not certain whether this is a further stage of beasthood, a complete overhaul of the beasthood system, or else a new effect of the Beast Claw weapon specifically. The player character is seen using two unidentified attacks: a roar that knocks the gargoyle enemy over (gargoyles will do this normally if you hit them anyways), followed by diving on top of it and seems to bite the enemy before the scene ends (which is normally not possible, and would be very odd if it only applied to gargoyles and their unique "knocked over" animation). Unsure whether beast mode modifies the equipped weapon's moveset in some way, or else gives new context-sensitive attacks, or anything really.

New covenants/oaths confirmed so far:

The League - soon to be the one-and-only co-op covenant for Bloodborne. The League is lead by a mysterious man in a fancy constable's attire with a bucket helmet, and players can join with his Oath and assist other players online to compete in The League's online ranking roster. League members can also summon NPCs to assist them.

New areas confirmed so far:

Hunter's Nightmare - this was the area playable in the demo. It looks to be an area similar to the Nightmare Frontier, but with rivers of blood.

Research Hall - location named in the official website. No further information available.

Fishing Hamlet - location named in the official website. No further information available.

Astral Clock Tower - location named in the official website. We have exactly one picture related to this, and no idea what kind of enemies or treasure may be found within.

New enemies confirmed so far:

"nightmare hunters" - real name unknown, and largely irrelevant. These are typical enemy hunters, but with one notable difference: they will attack beast enemies when not attacking you. They can be distinguished from normal enemy hunters by their glowing red eyes and larger builds. The nightmare hunters seen in the demo were wielding the new DLC weapons, and in cases where they were using weapons the players had access to, the movesets were identical.

"Cthulhu guards" - imagine the heavily armored axe wielders from Hemwick Crossing, but ten feet tall and with a tentacle grab that comes out from under their hood. Has arcane abilities they cast with their axes. Not an enemy to be trifled with.

Ludwig - boss title is in Japanese, but early translations claim it says something along the lines of "cursed beast Ludwig" or "horrid beast Ludwig". When you first enter the arena, something that appears to be a walking corpse warns you to run away because the beast Ludwig is nearby, after which the camera shows Ludwig in the typical bits and pieces to full reveal method and the fight begins. The linked article up top mentions that his moveset was neutered for the demo fight, but he still shot jets of arcane fire every now and then.

Last edited by Tsmp on Wed Nov 18, 2015 10:26 am, edited 28 times in total.

I wonder if arrows can be used to parry. That'd be pretty scary, honestly. The ability to backstab from a distance probably wouldn't be all that useful in pvp, but it'd be great for pve.

The caestus being a parry tool... I'm probably overthinking this, but i can see this being potentially worse than a gun because it has no cost. Hopefully it isn't fast enough for players to abuse. I can see this tiny weapon potentially making the game better though. Being able to parry a boss when you're out of bullets is pretty nice. And it's strength, so it could help make up for the huge advantage that skill-tinge has over strength already.

The rocket hammer seems like it may be either a str-arc or str-blood weapon. Definitely reminds me of a Powderkeg weapon. It's possible that the charge you put on the hammer may cost bullets in order to give it that extra oomph.

At a guess, I'd say the bow wouldn't be able to parry. It's arrows only seem to have the properties of normal attacks, like a heavy attack to the back opening something up for a backstab. That might not be useful in competitive PvP, but I can definitely see it being useful in random invasions, especially when paired with some Blue Elixir.

I'm not very clear on the rocket hammer at all, unfortunately. I want to say it looks like a str/arc fire weapon, or maybe even str/blt, but then again the Stake Driver uses a firing mechanism as well and it's neither arcane nor bloodtinge, and also doesn't cost bullets. Despite having clear footage of it being used, the thing remains mysterious. But since it doesn't seem to be on fire when the rocket isn't on, I would assume it isn't quite a str/arc weapon, unless all of the fire damage comes from just the buff. Other people have mentioned that it appears to splash oil around when not lit, which would be a very interesting feature if that wasn't just an animation thing. But yes, it definitely looks like something the Powder Kegs would come up with.

As for the parrying tool... I would never, ever stop laughing if it turned out the parry punch was itself parryable. Even then, it's no shield and is only melee range, so anyone with a gun can take advantage of parrying attempts by just shooting at it from a safe distance, or even attacking with a longer weapon. Assuming its parry functions in the same way guns do (L2 is its only button, and pressing that makes it punch, so most likely yes), it would have to actually hit the opponent with a punch to interrupt them in order to parry. But if its punching range is only the length of your own arm, and most weapons are longer than that...

If the punching distance was short, like the stake driver charged r2, it'd be unusable. If, however, your punch has some range to it, like the range of a wheel r1 or greater, it could be quite a potent weapon. Or if your punch was actually more like a parry that you see in dark souls.

Looking at the head of the rocket hammer, it has what looks like a firearm hammer on the back. Looking at the face of the hammer, it has holes. Whether this thing is meant to simply stream oil and fire, i cannot say, but i did have a theory that this weapon may fire pellets from the head of the hammer on contact, as if it was a gun itself. Not only would this be an effective strategy for breaking through tough blunt def, but it would be an effective way to create a str-tinge weapon, which the game does not currently have. If not, then it's probably just str-arc.

If the bow behaves like i think it will, it could be a complete game-changer for both pvp and pve. I'm imagining sniping the undead giant growths, crushing Amy and Ebri with a barrage of headshots, etc.

Good point about Amy and Briebrie being weak to headshots. I don't think it'll change too much in PvP though, as the arrows seem to fire slower than a gun does. Good damage, 200+ per shot on Ludwig with 25-ish skill and not even fully upgraded, but I don't like the idea of actually hitting anyone with it when they're locked on to you. Delaying shots with the charge may help.

Depends on what damage type the arrows have. If they're arcane, that new shield will stop them with no trouble. If they're physical, they might be a bit more annoying.

Laurence, the man who left the Order of Paleblood, is almost certainly going to be the final boss of the DLC

. Warning! Do not read this spoiler if you want to be surprised about the finale of this DLC.

About the segmented machete, i think it will be a very powerful weapon in pvp. Scary, even, due to the huge range that it has for its original size. If it has anything close to the range it has on the NPC enemies, it will easily crush almost anything it's pitted against. A quality build will no doubt do it wonders unless it has poor-to-zero dex scaling. I can see it working extremely well on an arcane build as well if it can turn into a pure element.

That warpick looks to be a lance in its UTF state. Thrust gems, anyone? if it's pure thrust, it'll be crazy good against just about anything.

I suspect the bow will be a mix of arcane and physical damage in both modes. I'm actually very curious to see if it has any other attacks in the TF state than light and heavy fire.

Another thing i'm wondering is: are they going to add on to the chalice dungeons? Will they have more blood rocks in this DLC, potentially farmable? Are they going to make the Normal, Uncanny, and Lost versions of all of the new melee weapons available to us? I have about 36,227 more questions about this DLC, but these are the most prominent questions in my mind at this point in time.

Last edited by Astrichthyes on Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm going to need a source on that spoiler, mate. Seems like questionable speculation, especially considering what we already have as the first boss.

The Machete thing is just slow all around, and the trick mode telegraphs so far in advance I don't see dodging it to be an issue. The skill scaling is E at +8 by the way, so it being any good for quality builds is doubtful. Probably better as a supplement to the Kirkhammer and an excuse to equip the Cannon.

The thing I'm most excited about is that burial saw thing. Moveset of a saw weapon when folded, moveset of Burial Blade's sword mode when unfolded. At least, that's how it looked in the trailer. The transform attack included a backstep too, which was nice.

edit: Well, that and whatever the beastmode-looking thing was in the trailer. Even if it's only cosmetic, the animations at least look good.

Tsmp wrote:I'm going to need a source on that spoiler, mate. Seems like questionable speculation, especially considering what we already have as the first boss.

The Machete thing is just slow all around, and the trick mode telegraphs so far in advance I don't see dodging it to be an issue. The skill scaling is E at +8 by the way, so it being any good for quality builds is doubtful. Probably better as a supplement to the Kirkhammer and an excuse to equip the Cannon.

The thing I'm most excited about is that burial saw thing. Moveset of a saw weapon when folded, moveset of Burial Blade's sword mode when unfolded. At least, that's how it looked in the trailer. The transform attack included a backstep too, which was nice.

edit: Well, that and whatever the beastmode-looking thing was in the trailer. Even if it's only cosmetic, the animations at least look good.

You are right, it is speculation. I can't debunk it because we don't know if anyone else was present while that cutscene conversation was taking place. What we can infer is that the new area will be a nightmare, an alteration of reality since it takes place within another's mind. Whose nightmare, i haven't a clue.

My thoughts on the machete are that it may be most powerful when used unlocked because you can change your striking frame to make it harder to dodge. Because of the sweeps of its attacks, which seem wider than the whip form of the cane, it's entirely possible that this weapon may be much better than it seems so far. Also, because the weapon is at +8 in the demo, that E in dex could very well turn into a C. From what i've seen, even D scaling can add decent damage from a stat because of gems. If it remains at E scaling, then any more than min req dex may go to waste. It all depends on the weapon's base AR and how potent that E turns out to be.

The Burial Cleaver looked least exciting to me because it feels kind of like a rehash of the saw weapons, but i wouldn't doubt it'll be a nice weapon for maintaining space between you and your opponent, getting hits in and getting out fast. That's probably the biggest draw it will have.

From what i've heard, the katana-like weapon from the artwork will have a whip form. Pure dex alternative to chikage, most likely. Other than that little morsel, if it's even true, i have nothing on this weapon. Less than 2 months until we find out for sure.

The article talking about a "katana whip" sounded very much as if they were referring to the threaded cleaver and just didn't know what a cleaver was. They were talking about a usable weapon in the demo, and the demo had no usable katana weapon. It did have the threaded cleaver, which does have a whip mode with the gigantic range and knockdown they mentioned. I don't appear to have that interview listed here, though. Hmm... Well, the character in that artwork was a summonable NPC in the demo. He was equipped with a Chikage and the new rifle, so make of that what you will. As for the threaded cleaver itself, if it's only at E skill scaling even after +8, I really don't think it'll get much higher than that. Expecting a C from it after 8 upgrades of E seems a bit too hopeful.

The conversation taking place in the boss's cutscene reads something along the lines of "Help, someone... the cursed beast *spoiler*... he's here...". It's the corpse-dude doing the talking, not the boss. The boss himself doesn't say a word.

Tsmp wrote:The article talking about a "katana whip" sounded very much as if they were referring to the threaded cleaver and just didn't know what a cleaver was. They were talking about a usable weapon in the demo, and the demo had no usable katana weapon. It did have the threaded cleaver, which does have a whip mode with the gigantic range and knockdown they mentioned. I don't appear to have that interview listed here, though. Hmm... Well, the character in that artwork was a summonable NPC in the demo. He was equipped with a Chikage and the new rifle, so make of that what you will. As for the threaded cleaver itself, if it's only at E skill scaling even after +8, I really don't think it'll get much higher than that. Expecting a C from it after 8 upgrades of E seems a bit too hopeful.

The conversation taking place in the boss's cutscene reads something along the lines of "Help, someone... the cursed beast *spoiler*... he's here...". It's the corpse-dude doing the talking, not the boss. The boss himself doesn't say a word.

I wouldn't expect E scaling to turn into C, but it's hard to tell with this game because scaling can change so drastically with a couple of upgrades. Even D scaling might offer some decent returns if the base AR is high (the DBS effect, as i call it, since its B scaling was so strong).

I do hope they give arcane melee a bit of a buff or at least offer decent farming options. As it is, the best arcane can possibly do is either Nourishing Toni/Wheel or a weaker elemental version of physical weapons since the accessability of gems equivalent to tempering is sparse. More likely than not, 90% or more of the arcane builds out there are using 24% elemental gems instead of 27.2%. More rock and chunk farming would be nice too. Do you think they will add onto the chalice dungeons? It'd be foolish if we couldn't access the Uncanny and Lost versions of the new weapons unless they made it entirely unnecessary with 2 universal gem slots.

Astrichthyes wrote:I wouldn't expect E scaling to turn into C, but it's hard to tell with this game because scaling can change so drastically with a couple of upgrades. Even D scaling might offer some decent returns if the base AR is high (the DBS effect, as i call it, since its B scaling was so strong).

I do hope they give arcane melee a bit of a buff or at least offer decent farming options. As it is, the best arcane can possibly do is either Nourishing Toni/Wheel or a weaker elemental version of physical weapons since the accessability of gems equivalent to tempering is sparse. More likely than not, 90% or more of the arcane builds out there are using 24% elemental gems instead of 27.2%. More rock and chunk farming would be nice too. Do you think they will add onto the chalice dungeons? It'd be foolish if we couldn't access the Uncanny and Lost versions of the new weapons unless they made it entirely unnecessary with 2 universal gem slots.

The question of chalice dungeons is an interesting one. I believe they mentioned they wouldn't be doing anything with chalice dungeons for the DLC, but that a later patch was being considered.

This could mean one of two things:

1) The nature and mechanics of chalice dungeons are unchanged. This does not exclude the possibility of a new chalice location, from which uncanny/lost weapons and higher or lower tiers of runes can be found, or where new DLC bosses can be rematched with higher difficulty.

2) The nature and mechanics of chalice dungeons are unchanged, and no new chalice locations are added. This would mean uncanny/lost weapons and better/worse versions of runes would have to be acquired through other means.

Personally, I'm expecting them to go with the second one. It takes the least effort and gets the job done. I'd like to see a whole new chalice area with new enemies and bosses and stuff, and maybe a gem type the other two don't give, and new traps, and I guess everything, but if they've been working on the DLC for six months, expecting anything more than AotA-size might be a tad unrealistic.

Each of the chalice areas seems to have it's own unifying theme: Pthumeru 1-3 is the "generic" stuff that you can find in every dungeon, Hintertombs is an extension of Pthumeru and shows off the rare effects like poison, Ihyll has bits of Cainhurst thrown in, Loran is beasts, and Isz is Kin and Great Ones. If they were to make a new chalice area for the DLC, you'd think it'd have to have its own theme, right? I can't think of a theme the other two haven't touched on in some way, unless "Nightmare" is a theme separate from Isz and its Cosmos thing.

Arena... that's an interesting possibility. Though, I'd like to think that if they fixed SRRC to work faster (especially with invasion matching) it'd end up being about the same.

In any case, him being evasive on the question of Oath Runes suggests that the first question may be redundant. If they were to add a new Oath Rune, it would also count as a change to the multiplayer. If instead there was a change to the multiplayer but no new Oath Rune, that would indicate something along the lines of a new multiplayer bell or else changes to the multiplayer system (bell maidens?).

At a guess, I'd say he's trying to avoid mentioning a new Oath Rune and is just good enough at misdirection to make it seem like the second answer was in regards to something else.

I'm not so sure it'll be a "rocket" hammer so much as some sort of buff. If it is indeed jet-propelled, then I really don't know what to say but gg. This DLC definitely breaks the mold of Bloodborne, which says a lot because Bloodborne broke the mold for games in general. I'm very anxious to see the threaded cleaver, the bow, the pickaxe, and the pizza cutter in the hands of a skilled mix-up player. I see a lot of potential for most of the new weapons and can hardly wait the month and change before we start getting crushed by new enemies.

If they did an arena, it'd have to be designed to level the playing field. The arenas in DkS and DkS2 were a failure because of the arbitrary - and poorly chosen - level brackets and the obstacles in the arenas that promoted run-and-heal. Giving us a choice between the various dueling arenas and having at least one obstacle-free arena that was small enough to dicourage passive play would be ideal

Jumilaattori wrote:And it was a terrible mistake. But like I said, doesen´t have to be an arena literally. New 4-1 works too. Anything with fast,smooth, fight after fight. Instead of current: waiting 10 min for a match.

Also warping from lamp instead of going via dream would be nice as would be restocking at lamp.

These imo will determine is dlc fun for 2h or 200h.

My only objection here is that I believe the Sinister Dungeons were brilliant, but the SRRC connectivity issue limits it to the point of near-uselessness without active player coordination. Being able to create your own arena is wonderful and a great boon that this game has, but cannot make good use of because it has inherent connectivity issues. A centralized arena is entirely unnecessary because the SRRC COULD function in exactly that fashion, but they'd have to fix this day-one issue. After that, invaders would come pouring in.

Anything that gives you fight after fight like in DeS in its prime or in dks2 right now, works for me. I´d prefer PvP out of chalices and leaving chalices to pVe but if they can make it fight after fight I don´t mind.

Bloodborne Official JP Website wrote:Q： What kind of content is included with the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： The Old Hunters expansion depicts a nightmare world where the old hunters are captured. It includes new areas, weapons, mysteries, items, and costumes.

Q： Can you play the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion without having the original Bloodborne game?A： No. You will not be able to play without the original Bloodborne game.

Q： Can users who have installed the expansion interact online with other players who have not?A： Just as it is now, all players will be able to interact online in the areas from the original game. Online interaction in the expansion's additional areas will only be possible among players who have the expansion installed.

Q： How do you access the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： Once you reach a certain point in Bloodborne, the item, "Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter" appears in the Hunter's Dream. Once you have acquired this item, you will be able to access the newly added areas in the expansion.

Q：Can you use the save data from a cleared game of Bloodborne?A： Yes. Also, if you are replaying the game and progress to a certain point, you will be able to access the newly added areas in the expansion once you acquire the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter.

Q： Will there be trophies added in the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： Yes, trophies will be added.

Q： Will you not be able to complete the story if you do not play the added content from the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A. No. You can still get to the ending without playing the new content in the expansion.

Bloodborne Official JP Website wrote:Q： What kind of content is included with the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： The Old Hunters expansion depicts a nightmare world where the old hunters are captured. It includes new areas, weapons, mysteries, items, and costumes.

Q： Can you play the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion without having the original Bloodborne game?A： No. You will not be able to play without the original Bloodborne game.

Q： Can users who have installed the expansion interact online with other players who have not?A： Just as it is now, all players will be able to interact online in the areas from the original game. Online interaction in the expansion's additional areas will only be possible among players who have the expansion installed.

Q： How do you access the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： Once you reach a certain point in Bloodborne, the item, "Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter" appears in the Hunter's Dream. Once you have acquired this item, you will be able to access the newly added areas in the expansion.

Q：Can you use the save data from a cleared game of Bloodborne?A： Yes. Also, if you are replaying the game and progress to a certain point, you will be able to access the newly added areas in the expansion once you acquire the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter.

Q： Will there be trophies added in the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A： Yes, trophies will be added.

Q： Will you not be able to complete the story if you do not play the added content from the Bloodborne The Old Hunters expansion?A. No. You can still get to the ending without playing the new content in the expansion.

@Jumi: If they fix connection issues and the SRRC, Sinister Chalices very well could be fight after fight and there wouldn't be any need for a designated arena. My hope is that they make cursed gem farming viable in the Sinister dungeons so they become more popular and we can actually get SRRC invasions besides hizzngr3.